WASHINGTON — Sen. John Cornyn on Wednesday defended a newly confirmed East Texas judge who called Barack Obama an "un-American impostor" while he was president — a comment that offended Utah Sen. Mitt Romney enough to side with Democrats trying to block the nominee.

The Senate confirmed Beaumont lawyer Michael Truncale on Tuesday on a 49-46 vote to the lifetime post on the federal bench.

Cornyn and Sen. Ted Cruz had recommended him to the White House.

Truncale made the comment during a speech to a Republican women's group in Beaumont in June 2011, two months before he formally launched a bid for a U.S. House seat.

"I've known Michael Truncale for maybe 30 years. He's a very good man. He's an outstanding lawyer," Cornyn said. "He made clear that he's not a member of the birther movement. He doesn't believe in that."

"Mr. Truncale told me personally that the comments that he made in the context of a congressional race ... would be completely inappropriate coming from a judge, and he understands the difference in that role," the senator added.

But MJ Hegar, the combat veteran running for the Democratic nomination to challenge Cornyn next year, blasted him for promoting a "hyperpartisan" judge.

"It's 100% on brand for him," she said by phone. "This is a good example of why I'm running. There's so much dysfunction and hyperpartisanship that confirming hyperpartisan judges is really dangerous for our country and our state."

Hegar said she's less concerned about Truncale's anti-Obama rhetoric than about the partisanship it reflects, which she fears will translate into rulings to strip protections for preexisting conditions under the Affordable Care Act, and otherwise use the bench to advance a partisan agenda.

"Hyperpartisan judges are going to rule the way that Sen. Cornyn legislates, and that's as they are directed by their party leadership," she said.

Michael Truncale, former Texas State University System regent, during his 2012 congressional campaign

His answer: "It is possible ... that I was merely expressing frustration by what I perceived as a lack of overt patriotism on behalf of President Obama."

Six weeks ago, on April 3, Illinois Sen. Dick Durbin, the deputy Democratic leader, mentioned Truncale's "un-American impostor" comment during a floor speech in which he complained that Republicans were ramming problematic nominees through the Senate.

Romney ran against Obama as the GOP nominee for president in 2012, and steadfastly rejected false allegations regarding the president's birth certificate and heritage.

Explaining his vote against Truncale on Tuesday, Romney said: "He made particularly disparaging comments about President Obama. And as the Republican nominee for president, I just couldn't subscribe to that in a federal judge. This was not a matter of qualifications or politics. This was something specifically to that issue as a former nominee of our party."

Truncale isn't the first judicial nominee backed by Cornyn and Cruz to raise eyebrows.

The senators had also urged Trump to nominate Jeff Mateer, a top lawyer for the state who had described transgender children as evidence of "Satan's plan." The White House dropped the nomination in December 2017 after an uproar when the remarks surfaced.

Cornyn was openly miffed at the time, indicating that he was unaware of the remarks when he recommended Mateer.

The senators rely on a jointly named judicial evaluation committee composed of well-regarded and for the most part politically connected Texas lawyers, including former U.S. attorneys. The senators tout the panel as bipartisan, though it's predominately Republican. One former member, James Ho, now sits on the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, based in New Orleans.

Cornyn sidestepped a question Wednesday as to whether he wants the panel to do a better job of scrubbing the backgrounds of potential nominees, to flag inflammatory comments such as Mateer's and Truncale's.

The evaluation committee "has some of the best lawyers in the state of Texas," Cornyn said. "They go through the backgrounds and make recommendations to us, and we then make recommendations to the White House, and then the president decides who to nominate and who not to nominate. But I wouldn't equate those two."

He was satisfied with Truncale's assurance that he will set aside politics as a judge, and by his explanation for the 2011 comment, which he asserted was not aimed at Obama personally.

"Not only [Obama's] policies but his speeches overseas where he was critical of the United States, and promised these other countries to change. That was offensive to him. And I think a number of people took offense at the so-called apology tour," Cornyn said. "So I was satisfied that he had the experience and training, and had explained the context of that in a way that certainly did not deter my support for him."